Johannesburg, 18 May 2006
A new survey of over 3 000 people in the United Kingdom - conducted on behalf of online learning provider, SkillSoft - reveals which professions are the most stressful and what things lead people to feeling stressed at work.
IT experts are more likely to suffer from stress than any other professional, according to a new survey.
A staggering 97% of people working in IT claim to find their life at work stressful on a daily basis.
Four out of five IT consultants feel stressed before they even enter the workplace, in anticipation of another day juggling complaints, pressure from managers and daily targets.
And a quarter of IT experts are under such enormous pressure to perform at work they have taken time off suffering with stress.
The poll revealed that a third of IT professionals say it is difficult to get the work done when managers are constantly on their backs.
One IT respondent said: "I spend most of my day fielding calls from people who don`t even have a basic knowledge of computers and printers.
"It`s amazing the amount of time I spend teaching people where the on-off button is.
"And when I do actually find a technical problem to solve, I have my manager breathing down my neck wondering why I have a backlog of complaints."
Kevin Young, managing director of SkillSoft UK, says: "Our research was sparked by a recent Gartner report which claims that the untrained or under-trained desktop user will cost an organisation five times more to support than a well-trained worker. This led us to thinking about how much pressure this must also put on the IT professionals who have to provide such support.
"By commissioning this study, our aim was to establish to what level workload affects the stress levels of people working in IT and across a variety of other job disciplines; and to learn more about the sort of other factors that impact on stress in the workplace."
People working in medical professions have the second most stressful job - with 96.8% saying caring for others is rewarding but traumatic on the same hand.
Engineers, sales and marketing professionals and teachers also have demanding roles, according to the poll.
The poll reveals that 37% of folk find it difficult to meet deadlines, while 31% stress about taking on other people`s work.
A disgruntled 28% say they lack job satisfaction, and would prefer to work elsewhere.
A third of people would rather be their own boss, and have complete control over their daily duties.
And employees claim to feel put-upon and suffer most at the hands of their managers - who are blamed for lack of support, increasing pressure, interruptions and bullying behaviour.
"By understanding more about what makes people stressed at work, organisations are much better placed to manage its causes."
Top 10 stressful professions:
IT
Medicine/caring profession
Engineering
Sales and marketing
Education
Finance
Human resources
Operations
Production
Clerical
Top 10 work stresses:
Workload
Feeling undervalued
Deadlines
Type of work people have to do
Having to take on other people`s work
Lack of job satisfaction
Lack of control over the working day
Having to work long hours
Frustration with the working environment
Targets
Top 10 colleague irritations:
Seeing others not pulling their weight
Managers changing their minds about what they want doing
Lack of support from managers
Pressure from managers
Feeling put-upon by managers
Interruptions by colleagues
Interruptions by managers
Bullying behaviour by managers
Lack of support from colleagues
Bullying behaviour by colleagues
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